have a great week. we'll see you next fox news sunday. >> good eveningment. i am megyn kelly. >> i am bret baier. >> that is the stage from which governor romney will accept his nam nation. these are the seats from which the delegates are route him on. while they are on everyone's list tonight the name abounding inside the arena at the moment is isaac. >> tropical storm isaac expected to be hurricane isaac. we will tell you where the track of the storm is headed and how that changed the convention already and we will look at the party flat form and look at the

political analysis. it starts right now. ♪ >> live from the tampa bay times this is america's leblgs headquarters. >> welcome to the fox news set our perch through out the convention this week. they are already preparing a tribute to the late neil armstrong. >> no tributes to isaac. the storm barreling toward the gulf coast which caused them to postpone the kickoff by a day and now we are hearing maybe more. we will bring you the latest on the storm track in just a minute. >> first the storm keeping the presumptive republican nominee mitt romney in new hampshire. karl cameron is traveling with the governor and reports the storm isn't just effecting plants in pam taw. when eye sack hitting florida

and most of monday's events canceled in tampa mitt romney attended church in new hampshire kept a watchful iep on the storm. >> is this where the romney olympics took place? >> he brought up romney care his massachusetts over hall. >> i was the guy who was able to get healthcare for all of the women and men in my state. talking about it at the federal level we did something and did it without cutting medicare and without raising taxes. >> with the race virtually tied and on the electrical college he is hoping for a bounce with swing voters and investment that mocked democrats for accusing him of u.s. economic disloyalty. >> don't have any foreign products japanese tv's or foreign cars. i could have done that. but i did live my life and expect by virtue of disclosing all of these things people can

take a look and see whether that is something they are comfortable with or not. >> it was supposed to be about contrasts to the president with tough criticism of mr. obama's record and policies. isaac has muted some of that. president obama spent time at camp david the presidential retreat. the president seemed to under score about who romney really is. >> i don't really know him well. i think the big arguments i have with governor romney is where we take this country forward. >> isaac and aftermath could impact the democrat's tactics and convention in charlotte next pe week. >> neither romney or the president can say they worry more about the leblgs than isaac's path. on tuesday, wednesday and thursday all of the prime time speakers will remain the same but those bumped from monday will be squeezed and probably not into prime time.

brett? >> live with the governor. carl, thank you. >> isaac stealing the headlines early here at the convention. let's get to the fox news weather center for the lathes on the storm's track. hi everyone. i am meteorologist maria molina with an update on tropical storm isaac which as of our last update at 8:00 p.m. eastern time the hurricane center found that the storm has intensified. now the system does have maximum sustained winds of 65 miles per hour. the pressure dropped to 991 miley bars and also slowed down in speed. now the storm system is moving at 15 miles per hour. when a storm system slows down over very warm water that is not good news. this warm water will provide the fuel that isaac needs to intensify. take a look at the time line in the forecast as we head into the next several hours as forecasting continues to intensify and it could potentially be a category 1

hurricane as early as late mo y monday and tuesday morning. we are anticipating it should have maximum sustained winds at 80 piles per hour. land fall is expected late tuesday early wednesday morning across parts of the northern gulf coast. the center is forecasting a move over gulf port and mississippi. coastal areas east of new orleans and to the west of mobile we still have several days to go as far as when this land fall will be occurring so we can still see some changes on where that center of the storm will land. isaac is a large storm system. tropical storm force winds extend outwards of 200 miles from the center of the storm system. even if the center doesn't move over your town you could be looking a strong winds and heavy rain. hurricane warnings are in effect through new orleans mobile and extreme western portions of the florida panhandle. we are anticipating we should see tropical storm conditions

late monday night hurricane winds over tuesday as much as a 12-foot storm surge could occur on coastal areas and 15 inches or more of rain can fall as well as tornadoes. we will keep you updated through out the night. >> keep it here on fox news channel for the latest. senior writer for weekly standard and one williams and charles krauthammer. this is a challenge for the rnc to deal with now that the storm has passed tampa or will but to deal with the potential of a category 1 or 2 hitting the gulf coast. >> there are two problems. number won the cancellation of day one and some of day two you want to be negative and hard talk about the past and end with ryan and romney talking about the future and hope and all that. you are losing the opportunity to really hit the other guy hard.

the other part is when you get to tuesday and wednesday if there is a catastrophe somewhere on the southern coast on the gulf of mexico, then what's the tone of the convention? it has to change completely. it has to be solemn and has to be more we are in this together more inhe expirationnal. you ha -- inspirational. you have to shift it. the point was introducing romney but you have to think of it in larger terms and softer terms. >> on that front is there an opportunity for governor romney here if the gulf coast is getting hit a lot of eyeballs watching perhaps even more than normally there would be. >> i think there is. tv networks were not going to cover monday night anyway. what we are talking about here is an opportunity for mitt romney to introduce himself to the american people for republicans to fly the flag and find their brand and i think you

are right. there will be more casual viewers because of the storm. people will be in tune to see how the republicans respond to this moment. one of the big news items is joe biden wouldn't come. good and bad news from the republican point of view. they were delighted but when you think back to what happened in 04 at the convention i should say 08 in minneapolis republicans said we are going down and helping out and show we care. >> republican governors jindal, scott in florida bryant in mississippi, alabama saying they are not coming. and jindal and scott had speaking roles they will not do. so what about the tone and tenor of the rest of this week? >> i think they don't lose much by not having monday and not having red meat. there will be red meat defused through out the speeches through out the rest of the week. expect a lot of that in chris christie's speech if particular.

the tone is going to be very important. if you end up having split screensnd you see devastation along the gulf coast the last thing republicans want is to have video of their delegates at a bar or preplan expensive party. it will change the entire shape of the convention and shape of the way they present themselves. >> if we wind up in that scenario does it not effect both parties if we situations in new orleans and america it will not likely be resolve bide monday. >> it will hurt the republicans if only because of the historical echo because of katrina and that happened during the republican administration. it was a disaster. if you have a split screen it doesn't help. obama will be in a position to either successfully bring america together we are going to do something or not. it gives him the initiative and takes it away from the republicans. >> say this thing doesn't cause

a lot of damage and it dies down, the challenge for mitt romney introducing himself as you mentioned to the american people. >> i think that's right. defining himself. the key thing here for me early on is ann romney she is a big player in the convention, people sometimes doesn't pay attention. they reach out to women voters. they moved her from monday to tuesday. hopefully she gets that prime time audience. >> see you in a little bit. >> this year's party vision the platform will not formally be announced until the start of the convention but it is already generating headlines. >> plus brit hume, chris wallace with analysis and the use of ocean media at this convention. our special from the rnc convention returns after a quick break.

>> one of the main purposes of the convention is to layout the party's platform. we have a look at the agenda some old and some new. >> abortion, gay marriage. these are a few of the republican party 2012 platform hammered out and a polite session at the tampa bay marriott last week. >> we submit this platform to the american people. >> the gop governor who over saw the drafting of the document

emphasized the continuity of the past. >> we are a party that believes in the sang at this time of marriage. a lot of basic tenants don't change. in a decision that breaks with the position of prufrp tive gop mitt romney the republican platform opposes abortion without exception safe for the cases of rape and insist. >> the platform of the republican party an abortion we are talking about that minority view of abortion in this country that this president holds dear to his heart. we are not talking about that. >> when you talk about the exceptions what you are going to sees is it silent on that. it also recognizes that you send this issue to the state.

because of the federalism. >> they could not say why other sensitive issues such as same-sex marriage were not also left for the state's to decide. the centrality of the by libertarian forces and tougher language onimmigration. >> we want people to come experience the american dream but do it in a way that has long been accepted that is do it through the legal processes. i think that is the heart and soul of what the platform says. >> louvering over the convention goers will be this running tally of the national debt which you can sees fast closing in on $15 trillion. the republican platform will address that it will only incorporate components of the medicare spending plans put forward by congressman ryan the release of the 2012 republican platform delayed on at least

tuesday. >> brit hume, chris wallace their take on national by mitt romney when our special coverage continues. you've been busy for a dead man. after you jumped ship in bangkok, i thought i'd lost you. surfing is my life now. but who's going to .... tell the world that priceline has even faster, easier ways to save you money. . . on hotels, flights & cars? you still have it. i'll always have it. so this is it? we'll see where the waves take me.

sayonara, brah!

>> they are big and bold answers. sometimes they are out of work and under employed and having a hard time making it. >> if people take one thing away from your acceptance speech thursday night what do you want that to be? >> that i believe in america and the american people. that i believe this nation is unique and exceptional and we have everything we need to continue to lead the world in prosperity and peace. >> how is this for a power panel. brit hume our senior political analyst and chris wallace anchor of fox news sunday. we saw an interview with you chris and he sat down with his

family and that's his vision he wants people to walk away knowing he believes in america. that's the theme for this convention. does that get it done? at this point in this process can he say anything to change the outcome? >> there's the open window theory. we follow this all of the time. weird people like this cover it all of the time. the vast majority open it a few times in a campaign the acceptance speech by the nominee is one of those memboments. he will speak to 40 million americans on thursday night assuming the weather cooperates it will resinate weeks after that in terms of what people he has from this campaign. >> they are getting ready on the pa system behind us. you have covered 35 conventions.

the going take is that conventions were prepackaged things to mitt romney this seems like an upon the moment. >> this side gets to make the opening statement unfiltered to the jury of the american public. although big issues and platform fights are a thing of the past these are no longer important. mitt romney will be presenting himself for the first time when they will be hearing him for any length of time. the slogan that i believe in america, a lot of people believe in america. most of the people suffering probably do, too. i think they will need more than that. >> let me make one counter intuitive idea. i heard the panel about the weather. this could be a terrible tragedy for real people.

i don't mean in any way to diminish that. but it seems to me there's things about hoe pro grammed he is. if he in this campaign if americans are in crisis and they found a right way to respond to it romney shows emotion in the way he responds to it i think of obama and how he handled that. mccain handled out when he was in the debate. it could give people a second look at who he is and what he is about. >> can he do that britt? that has been one of the criticisms many people don't oh connect with him. >> i don't think they are going to connect with thhim in a way natural politician can cause. watching his interview with chris today even to include the personal part in his home in in hampshire and flipping pancakes and all of that. but i don't think that's really what he needs to do.

he needs to convince people he needs to be a capable acceptable president. they don't have to love him. they don't have to think he is a warm guy. they think he will do a better job than the guy in the office will do. i think there are important audience they will do. the obama has an argument that is not rebutted by the republican side. all they will do is take us back to the policies that brought us into the financial crisis. i haven't heard it effectively responded to. that is one of the things this convention and acceptance speech by mitt romney do. i think it would make a difference if he did. >> to that point the obama campaign and president obama have not talked a ton about the economy they spent a lot of time talking about why mitt romney would not be a credible alternative. that is their strategy. we know things are bad but look this guy is going to be much worse. >> i talk to do karl rove and in

a sense mitt romney has a much easier task than barack obama. what mitt romney has to do is get people to take a different look at him and rewrite the understanding that people have of him as a human being and potential president. that is easier than being able to rewrite your record over four years as president when he hasn't worked out what he promised. >> one thing i think about the obama attacks on romney that probably haven't worked and he won't have to do too much to over come they created the impression that he is some sort of evil pirate a corporate raider a vulture. i don't think he comes across that way. he comes across not the warmest most charming guy but he comes across as a thoroughly decent hue pan being and he will be able to present himself in that way in this convention. >> gentlemen thank you very much. >> a new trend starts trending at this week's republican national convention. we will tell you about it. plus check out foxnews.com for the latest news and information

on the convention in ctampa and the 2012 presidential campaign. stay with us.

>> welcome back to tampa.

it is taking center stage at the republican national convention. steve brown reports on what's trending at the rnc. >> social media is an emerging political battle ground. who is in the rnc digital lounge. the mission is to outreach of voters. >> that will serve as the central hub as all of the conversations the monitoring and engagement. >> there's an app to watch the convention life on your phone and youtube page where visitors are encouraged to check. >> they have the huge video screens surrounding the stage. they will use at least part of the time to put up facebook posts and twitter tweets. they will be asked to do digital double duty. >> we can take them to have them do google hangouts for foeksz back in the home state. >> this gives us four-days to deliver our message unfiltered. >> unfiltered is the key when it

comes to social media campaigns. >> they can leap frog and go direct to voters who then spread the message on their behalf at really no cost. >> according to experts republicans have effectively erased the social media edge obama had in 08 due to middle age and senior users. >> large age gap use of web of the internet in general a decade ago. that has turned considerably. >> in a sense leveling the digital playing field to campaigns to compete in the social media arena. in tampa, steve brown, fox news. are you ready for the conventions? let us know what you think about this week's activities. you can tweet me, follow me at brea bret baier. >> and follow me at megyn kelly. i was beating you in twitter

followers but you surpassed me. meg begin, m-e-g-y-mn. >> charles, why aren't you following me? >> because i find that tweeting takes up so much of my time. >> i l a better reason next time when i am not ambushed. >> we heard mitt rom niece interview with chris wallace saying his father would have told him. that's his challenge this week to come out and be bold. do you expect that from governor romney? >> i think he has got to be real. that's the problem. when you look at the objectives obama shouldn't be anywhere near a time with mitt romney. it is like carter and reagan in 1980 where on the objective conditions of carter should have been way back. they weren't sure if he was presidential and extreme, et

cetera. the reason romney is neck and neck is people don't really know him and say he is stiff and they are not sure he wants to change choices. everybody heard him 100 times. it's not an important speech. he makes them on healthcare alone. he wants the one shot to let them see he is not robotic it's about the empathy. obama is up by 20-30 points over romney on being likeable. >> let's take a look at this. usa gallup recently like ability d economy. you see that poll 54 percent to 31 percent on like ability. the economy flips 52 percent to 43 percent. >> obama can't change the economy but romney can change like ability. that's why the election is in his hands.

obama stops with the economy he's not going to let people know who he is. romney has the chance. >> he wins the election hands down. >> what about that challenge clearly trying to paint mitt romney and pat ryan as extremists. they talk about it all of the time. the president did an interview this past weekend. >> he has signed up for extreme positions that are consistent with the positions a number of republicans gave him. whether he believes in those or not i have no doubt he will carry forward some of the things that he has talked about. >> now mitt romney is an extremist. in the primary he was too

moderate. >> the way that the president in mitt romney they don't know mitt romney even yet. as someone in step with the house republicans and especially the tea party element in house republicans is to find the brand at the moment and probably the most clear-cut way of people who connected the vice presidential pick the attacks on medicare and the whole business about abortion that takes you down a path that lots of americans the tea party are uncomfortable with. that's why mitt romney to pick up on advice he has to define himself and take who he is right now. is he the man that republicans have too much of a littling moderate from massachusetts or in fact is he now someone who says i am willing to break with my party on certain things and in other cases here's who i am. i am a conviction politician and i want you to know exactly what

i stand for, america. >> mitt romney won't take that stage on thursday in a vacuum even if this convention gets condensed by one or more days now. we expect there will be a night at least thursday probably wednesday now where we have seen a condensed time ann romney chris christie, paul ryan and mitt romney. the party's principal and what they stand for how much does that help him? >> i think it helps him tremendously. >> i think everyone is talking about mitt romney. you will hear so much talk about what he needs to do in his convention. he seems to do two things. those are the two questions you hear people lay those people out mitt romney ann romney will be talking to her husband in a way

that is different than most voters who pay attention to every contour the primary has seen. others will do so as well. olympians are coming up to speak in his role turning around the olympics. i think it is very important he layout the whole agenda you are talking about. he sort of follow up the pick of paul ryan. it was a bold pick with an agenda and convention that reflect that kind of leadership and make this a debate about leadership, styles and leadership and where the country is going. >> if you look at leaderships in the polls president obama leads on the leadership issue. >> how about this. number two in this poll who does this characteristic apply more to? strong decisive leaders. president obama 47 percent, mitt romney 42 percent. >> what they brought this week from the polling was when you ask the beam the economy they don't think obama is doing a great job.

you ask him about going forward pick up on what steve is talking about who will do a better job with the economy going together it's something like 45 to 43 a two-point lead to mitt romney. mitt romney should have a big lead on this. >> a lot of it spent on negative advertising on the obama said a corporate raider who taking away the middle class. >> we have money coming up for mitt romney. it's not going to help on that point. what would help is if mitt romney said here are my ideas and here's how i differ from president obama. it is not the same old cut taxes. it has to be great new ideas. >> has he led out that vision charles and are people listening? >> he hasn't laid it out succinctly. i think he can do that in a kind of headline form in the speech. i don't think he wants to be programmatic in that speech like that. i disagree. the one unique opportunity this speech will give him is to undo

the hundreds of millions of dollars of negative ads on saying he's a bad guy who kills the wives of steel workers he lays off and all of this ridiculous stuff. if he can stop this on that one speech, perhaps telling a story of his real past. if he can do that he undoes all of the hours and hours of ads that ran in the state saying he is a horrible guy. you do that and he will jump in the polls and he will take the lead. >> as always, thank you. @m-e-g-y-n- -- we will get all of the questions. >> he is watching you. >> he is watching you. >> that is more important. >> easy answer. i couldn't find it.

>> thank you. they were in the running for the vp nod. while they may not have made the cut they are still an important part of the romney campaign. we will bring you the who and why next.

>> a group of republicans either established stars or up and comers with a bright future heyed of them. one thing in common they were passed over as the running mate. where are they this week and where will they be fbetween now and november. john roberts has a look. >> the american people are tired of having a happy song sung to them. >> they were the contenders governors senators former lawmakers who if the stars had aligned could have been on the ticket. >> the reflection of paul ryan is a fantastic selection.

>> people around the country wold be strong advocates for u you>> chris christie is the keynote speaker. rubio will introduce mitt romney. >> beyond tampa they and surrogates rob portman, tim pawlenty bob mcdonald and others will help push him toward the oval office. >> this has come down to 8 or 9 states. my sense is wherever ryan and romney are not you will try to have one of these surrogates. >> they come from states romney can't win without. >> they have political operations followers county chairman political leader who's will help make certain if they are in a battle ground state like rob portman in ohio they will help carry the state. >> president obama will have a

campaign. >> they will have to reinforce romney on issues like healthcare and military sentence. >> they have other big names they have the ability to go on local television. >> i will fight do whatever i need. >> they are just as active behind the scene. >> they are important for fundraising. there are not enough places that have mitt romney paul ryan go for fund raisers. >> this is the 40th national convention. there have been plenty of memorable moments over the years. >> an american president holds the generation of a great president that he has had a rendezvous with destiny. i believe this generation of americans today also has a rendezvous with destiny.

>> over the last 150 years there have been memorable moments at the nothingnal convention.

moderator of meet the press cowell takes a look back. i accept your nomination for the president of the united states. >> american national convention is just that it's a national coming together, the people of the same political party. >> it is part of the democracy there was a time of course when we didn't know who the nominee was going to be. there would be a fight on the floor of the national connolly vengs. the 1952 republican convention they lost five elections in a row. they wanted desperately to win one. dwight d. eisenhower unquestionably one of the great heros of our times. >> i accept your summons. i will lead this crusade.

>> the 1980 republican convention ronald reagan. >> we have it in our power to be in the world over again. >> this very conservative of california was going to be the republican party nominee. he had a marvelous smile a-wonderful way of speaking. people liked him very, very much. in 1988 everybody knew that george h.w. bush was going to be the nominee of the republican party. >> read my lips. >> reagan spoke at the convention it was very interesting because he evoked the memory of one of his great moments in the american movie. >> go out there and win one for the gipper. >> he was there for four-days. it is going to be on television. people will have an opportunity to partake of the political process. >> let's bring back chris

wallace and brit hume. gentlemen, welcome back. as i mentioned 35 conventions we added it up. memories of covering conventions. >> for me it goes back even further. 1964 my first convention i was 16 years old. i got my job at cbs news on pure merit at the convention -- well, maybe i got a little help. i would walter cronkright's gopher. i was his gopher coffee gopher pencils. i started dating nancy cronkright walter's daughter. my first girlfriend. >> i didn't know we were going down this road. >> it's true. that's a convention memory. >> it is indeed. >> you should have seen man's nancy back in 1964. in any case in 1980 i was on the floor for nbc news at the convention. the big store was reagan was going to pick ford as his running mate. it was going to be a co

convention sweeping in detroit it fell apart the reagan political director come to announce it will be george bush i got the word 45 seconds before leslie stall i was in all of e the -- that was in the papers as the big scoop. >> true or not wallace had no moves back in the 60s or there after. >> i wasn't getting pencils for walter cronkright. the most distinct memory i have in this era of conventions where the nominees are no longer decided at the convention was reagan coming in in 1976 ford beating by 117 delegates was all. when ronald reagan appeared in the hall it was on the nomination they erupted on the floor a demonstration that really was a spontaneous demonstration and it went on and on and on and on, and tftz the story of the night. it completely up staged everything else that happened was the enthusiasm within the party. four years later he was the

nominee and the rest is history. the chaos in the convention in 1980 but he needed kennedy's support and the suspense through out the convention was whether he would get it where he would come the last night and has a great picture of them with their hands up together. they had gone to the kennedy hotel one of the earlier nights to negotiate this. he came back in the hall. i located him in the florida delegation. it was the story you had to have. everybody was pressing on a classmate of mine happened to be in the florida delegation and blocked everybody else's way. i got this interview with hamilton all of the networks had to carry it. it was my first floor doubt diaz i recall. the people i was working with cbs news they were over the moon about it and total struck of luck that my high school classmate was there to block everybody out of the way. >> speaking of going on and on and on and on -- >> sorry about that. >> no, no.

my question is bill clinton in 1988 giving the keynote speech and he went on and on and on. and the crowd started cheering when he said in conclusion. >> in conclusion. i was there with the democratic senator from colorado tim worth. you remember tim worth. he was like he makes this mistake all of the time. the next day, i was a floor reporter. the next day they sent word out that clinton and hillary, he was a member of the governor of arkansas wanted to come around to all of the networks to do damage control. would you do us a huge favor? would you interview bill clinton and make his -- okay. i really don't want to but i will talk to bill clinton and the rest... >> put in perspective a more recent moment that was when sarah palin took to the stage four years ago. >> people forget this now because the book on sarah palin she was a drag on the ticket. but at that convention her selection and initial performance the first news

conference where the selection was announced then in her floor speech absolutely blew away the entire bounce that obama had gotten from the big convention in denver with the set on the field and all of that. it ob blit rated it. c palin and mccain when the market melt down occurred were ahead in all of the polls. still remember this. she was a tremendous hit. she galvanized the party. >> they had a higher bounce than the president did. >> as always thank you. it will be an interesting week. >> next um we are going to tell you why you want to stay glued to your television set. don't go away.

- [laughing] woman: i used to wonder, why would a jew, a christian, and a muslim ever get together? - hello, hello. woman: and then i finally got it. they had a lot more in common than doughnuts.

- ♪ love can build a bridge - ♪ oh, love and only love - ♪ between your heart and mine ♪ male announcer: a message from the foundation for a better life. >> the setup continues here in tampa. it will begin on monday. they will open up the official event will not begin until tuesday now. at least that's the plan this evening. remember to stay tuned to fox news for our pleat coverage of the republican national convention. we are live in pam taw. -- tampa. we will have full coverage as well as the events of isaac. we will be here tomorrow including 1:00 p.m. eastern. >>